Ask the Housewife : How do I Balance Blogging with Being a Wife and Mother?

One of my readers recently asked me a very simple and direct question asking.. 

How do I balance blogging with being a wife and mother?

I thought this was one of the best questions I have ever received since doing this series. With that said, I decided to give this question a lot of thought.. and also give it, its own post! 

Here's my answer.. 

First off..

Family comes first.. always.. always.. always..

 While I love blogging.. I love my family more and if I ever had to choose.. I would always pick my family over anything else. This might be a little controversial to say but I put my husband first and my kids second. Not because I love my husband more than my own kids but because we have to keep our marriage strong to be able to give the kids the type of home I know they deserve. So my marriage will always come first above ANYTHING else.. and yes that means blogging too! But I am very lucky because my husband really likes our blog. He's on it all the time.. reading the posts.. and the comments and always showing people at his work something he liked on here. Its funny.. because he has even done guest posts and videos too! =) So I don't think he minds me blogging one bit. But when its time for us to sit back and watch a movie or have date night in the house.. the computer gets closed and he gets all my attention!

My children are 10 & 11.. Well Jackson will be 10 on Tuesday and Brittany will be 11 November 2nd. So its not like I am having to chase after babies and change diapers. I seriously don't know if I would have been able to blog during those years because I seemed to stay exhausted chasing around  2 babies. Brittany is in Indiana living with her dad and Jackson is here with me. So I really only have to worry about Jackson and Scott blogging wise. 

I normally blog once Jackson is in school.. and throughout the day will I will clean and take breaks to blog. I am very lucky that I work inside the home with breeding Persian cats and that allows me a lot of time to blog. I won't lie.. my mind is always thinking about the next post.. or an idea will pop up that I will have to jot down that I want to blog about.. but I do try to limit my time in the evenings. That is when homework is getting done.. dinner is being cooked.. and we are all back under 1 roof talking about the  highs and lows of our day.

Once we are done with dinner.. Jackson normally takes a bath and husby and I take a few minutes to hang out in the living room together. And that gives us time to talk privately about our days..Sometimes these conversations are fast and then I might work on the blog some and other times the talks are long and I put off blogging till everyone is in bed. I am a night owl and I do take that time in the wee hours of the night to blog and get posts ready for the next day. 

I should mention that when you have a busy life or a family and you blog.. organization is a big key to balancing it all. I think any kind of calender and little notebook works great for any blogger to balance out writing your posts and balancing your family all at the same time. Use the notebook to jot down ideas while you are chasing the kids around!! Use the calendar to plan when you want them to go live and remember you can always schedule your post to publish at any time you want. 

During the busy times such as Christmas, Trips, and Vacations.. I really try to get a lot of posts done before and schedule them to pop up while I am busy. Sometimes that doesn't happen and I just let readers have fun reading through the archives. I have been blogging for a while now.. ( almost 4 years ) and that helps too! 

I am very lucky to have the lifestyle where blogging doesn't really get in the way. I really believe the people in my home come before a computer or a blog. But we all are here a lot together.. and Jackson is at the age where he does a lot of stuff on his own.. Right now as I write this post, he is out playing with one of his friends in the yard. 

Really you just have to find the little gaps in your time where you can blog. Just remember.. 

The world can wait.. your family cannot.

I do blog often.. but I really do balance it out well.. I think as time has marched on.. I have learned to balance it better. In the late evenings Scott and I sit around and watch the news.. maybe a tv show.. and he is on the ipad doing his thing and I take that time to sit down and blog. That is after Jackson is in bed. 

Summers are harder.. when we have a full house of kids, I don't get as much time. But everyday I make them all have an hour and a half and that is my time.. And again.. the youngest child is 10 years old. So they are needing every second of time anymore. 

I think this is a great question and I would love to hear your answers if you are a blogger!

Ohhh.. you should also check out the latest giveaway right  here because its the family day timer and accessories! It is perfect for organizing your family and your blog! You have till midnight October 31st to get entered!! Good Luck to all of you! 

xoxo

K Jaggers

♥